Fuel-based thermal management systems for aircraft electrification: modelling and performance analysis

Recent trends in the context of aircraft propulsion and systems electrification are met with challenges, as new sources of on-board waste heat generation are introduced. The development and optimisation of innovative thermal management systems (TMS) for aviation is a key asset in addressing those challenges. Leveraging the intrinsic thermal capacity of Jet-A fuel appears as a promising solution to provide heat source cooling for both conventional and hybrid-electric aircraft configurations. In this paper, the feasibility of a fuel-based thermal management system (F-TMS) is investigated to support thermal control of fuel cells in the context of hybrid-propulsion electrification for a regional transport aircraft. A modelling approach is proposed for the dynamic simulation of the stored fuel mass and temperature, along with a preliminary investigation of the passive heat rejection through the tank walls. The performance of the F-TMS is simulated for two primary cooling architectures, and their thermal endurance is compared across some realistic flight mission profiles. Finally, the influence of altitude, range and alternate flight is investigated to identify critical scenarios of F-TMS utilisation and derive the maximum degree of supported hybridisation.